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Lung Cancer Remains The Most Lethal Cancer. Part 1 of 3

Lung Cancer Remains The Most Lethal Cancer – Part 1 of 3

Lung Cancer Remains The Most Lethal Cancer. New recommendations from the American Cancer Society tell that older current or former heavy smokers may want to observe low-dose CT scans to help screen for lung cancer. Specifically, that includes those aged 55 to 74 with a 30 pack-year smoking history who still smoke or who had quit within the past 15 years. Pack-years are a count made by multiplying the number of packs of cigarettes smoked a day by the number of years of smoking. “Even with screening, lung cancer would remain the most lethal cancer,” said Dr Norman Edelman, most important medical officer at the American Lung Association.

He noted the cancer society guidelines are similar to the ones from the lung association. The unripe recommendation follows on the results of a major US National Cancer Institute study, published in 2010 in Radiology, that found that annual CT screening for lung cancer for older current or earlier smokers cut their death rate by 20 percent.

Edelman stressed that the study does nothing to change the fact that smoking prevention and cessation remain the most important public health challenge there is. “Screening is not a feeling to make smoking safe from cancer deaths, and certainly does nothing to prevent smoking-related deaths from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease and heart disease”.